More Articles

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoFred Squillante | DISPATCHTwenty-somethings Joanna and Zach Cammenga bucked a national trend by getting married right out of college. The two are now graduate students at Ohio State.

When Joanna Cammenga started her freshman year at the University of Michigan, she never thought
that she’d end up married by age 22 and studying at Ohio State University.

“He was my first real relationship,” she said of her husband, Zach Cammenga, 23, who lived in
her residence hall. “None of my friends were the get-married-young type. When I said I was engaged,
they were like, ‘What? That happens?'"

As married college students, the Cammengas are an anomaly today. The median age for a first
marriage has risen over the years, according to the National Marriage Project at the University of
Virginia. A generation ago, most couples married in their early or middle 20s. Today, women usually
tie the knot at 27; for men, it’s 29.

Noting that trend, some campuses, including Kent State University, have done away with family
housing.

The Cammengas married in May 2012, less than a month after graduation. Soon enough, the
newlyweds packed up and moved to Columbus for grad school.

“It’s pretty much the only campus that we could go to the same school,” said Mrs. Cammenga, who
studies optometry. Her husband studies electrical engineering.

The Cammengas live at Ohio State’s Buckeye Village, the university’s housing complex for married
couples or students who have children.

Other campuses, including Bowling Green State University, no longer offer that amenity.

“In recent years, we have not seen a demand for that housing,” said Dave Kielmeyer, spokesman
for Bowling Green.

Kent State is currently leveling its Allerton Apartments, the university’s only family housing,
said Jill Church, who works for the campus’ residence services.

“People are marrying older,” said Claire Kamp Dush, an assistant professor of human sciences at
Ohio State. “Sex isn’t just contained within marriage. You don’t have to necessarily get married to
live with someone you really like.”

That’s because societal expectations are changing.

“Young people think they need to have all their ducks in a row before getting married,” Kamp
Dush said.

People who marry too young have a higher risk for divorce, she said. Most young people who are
getting married are religious.

While the Cammengas both consider themselves religious people, neither said their young marriage
was decided by their faith.

Unlike his wife, Mr. Cammenga said he always knew he would marry young.

“Both of my siblings got married right out of college,” he said. “My parents got married right
out of college.”

He grew up near Grand Rapids, Mich., where he said most people are in a “rush to the altar.”

Many of his former high-school classmates have also married. But elsewhere, strangers are
usually surprised the Cammengas are so young.

“I don’t regret it at all,” Mrs. Cammenga said. “I love everything about it — just having him
there all the time and not having to deal with living with girls anymore.”